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| 08 октября, 2012

This is Now a New Era

'Rossiyskaya Gazeta' publication

By Anna Zakatnova

Last Friday political consultants and experts attended a ‘round table’ discussion in Moscow about the past twelve years under the title “Putin today: the challenges and objectives of the new presidency”. The discussions were held at the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society.

The chairman of the Foundation, Konstantin Kostin opened the discussion by comparing the popularity ratings of Vladimir Putin with the popularity ratings of other heads of state, judged by their own citizens. Putin’s ratings were assessed using data from the FOM.

Study of the data showed that Putin was judged positively by 72% of respondents, using an aggregate of excellent, good and satisfactory responses. On top of that, 49% of Russians think that the rise in their living standards is directly related to measures taken by Putin.

Comparing this with other heads of state, Kostin reported that President Obama, who recently began his re-election campaign, was given a thumbs-up by 35% of Americans who were asked if he had brought positive changes to the life of the country. In France, 46% of the population are satisfied and expect change for the better under Francois Hollande (though at the moment he could be dubbed the “president of expectations”). Finally, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s total support is just 34%, while the German leader Angela Merkel enjoys the highest level of support at 53%.

“We can now definitely call the Putin years a definite and separate era in our history,” agreed the CEO of ACSPO – the All Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion Valery Fedorov. “Even though it is still continuing we can sum it up in various ways.”

He explained that in the course of the survey, respondents were asked to compare the Putin era with that of Yeltsin and Gorbachev. 64% felt that life had got better under the Putin presidency, while 14% felt things had got worse. By comparison, just 25% felt things had improved under Yeltsin and 49% that things had got worse. During perestroika under Gorbachev, the figures were correspondingly 27% better, 54% worse. This means that in the last almost 30 years, only the decade linked to Putin is viewed in a positive historical light.

Of course, the survey highlighted other interesting parameters. For example, an interesting discrepancy was discovered in the section on living standards since the year 2000. On the one hand, reported the general director of ACSPO, 52% of respondents are convinced that people have a higher standard of living now, with 14% feeling that the opposite is true. But, he went on, two Russian cities remain sceptical: in Moscow and in St Petersburg, only 45% of respondents think that life has improved under Putin and 16% feel it has got worse.

Fedorov believes that the inhabitants of Moscow and St Petersburg have unconsciously raised their expectations. “Things that seemed like an impossible dream even seven or eight years ago,” he says, “today seem completely ordinary, normal and nothing to get excited about. But for the people in the rest of the country, it’s completely different. So the city-dwellers who have been the main beneficiaries of the Putin decade now want even more, while the rest of the country still has the same smaller ambitions.”

The survey then asked for an assessment of Vladimir Putin in the area of employment. The result was (again according to ACSPO data) that 33% believe that it is easier to earn money and find employment under Putin, while 26% feel that it has become more difficult.

The situation on issues such as human rights, freedom and democracy produced a figure of 29% believing things had got better, while 20% believed that things had deteriorated. In the realm of international relations, an area traditionally of great interest to Russians, 45% of respondents were convinced that Putin’s leadership had improved the situation, while only 11% were sceptical.

As for government administration, 38% of Russians consider that things have improved, 16% that things are worse. This leaves the more sensitive issues, and, according to Valery Fedorov’s data, 33% of respondents believe that corruption has got worse, only 19% think things have got better. There’s much criticism of the police, the situation in the public sector, health, education, science and culture. Fedorov believes that these criticisms reflect the fact that these areas are still undergoing reforms which have yet to be completed.

The head of ACSPO reported on an analysis of answers to the question of what Russians now expect from their President. “The people’s expectations and priorities are quite clear,” he noted. They include the economy, improving living standards, the battle against corruption, free healthcare and education which must also be of a high quality, and finally the development of industry and agriculture.

“This agenda which people think Putin should focus on, is clear and understandable. It correlates exactly with Putin’s pre-electoral programme and its priorities are exactly what Putin himself thinks are important.”

The editor of ‘Expert’ Valery Fadeev summed up his opinion with these words: “In order to launch this new Putin era and make it as impressive as the last one, much of the discourse that now exists here must be reformatted.”